Anyone who knows me knows that I love to read. I always I have a book going. I am also a fast reader. We're not even through the first month of the year & I have finished 10 novels, so you could see how that could be an expensive habit if I bought every single book I read. I used to. When evaluating ways to cut costs this past summer, this was one area where I was able to make an impact.
Coeur d'Alene was blessed with a new library a little over a year ago. With that came a library network. I'm sure that most larger towns have something like it that you too can take advantage of. My problem with the library in the past was that I could never find what I wanted to read when I went in. Either what I wanted to read was already checked out or I didn't have the freedom to peruse the library for a book because I had 4 children tagging along with me. With our library network I can reserve a book from the comfort of my home computer & the library emails me when it's in. Then I just have to walk in, get it off the reserve shelf & check it out which takes all of 2 minutes. And I am not limited to books that the Coeur d'Alene Library has on its shelves, but can reserve from any library in the network and have it sent to my local library for pick up. Fabulous!
Other ways to get cheap books are used bookstores. They carry used books for a fraction of the cover price. My mother-in-law does this quite frequently (I know because she lends me her favorites). Most of these types of stores offer you a store credit of some kind when you bring books back.
I just recently discovered a company online that works similar to Netflix, but for paperback books instead. It's called BooksFree.com & basically for $9.99 a month they send you 2 books to read. When you finish one, you mail it back in & they mail you another. An interesting concept.
In these difficult financial times, I can imagine that libraries & businesses of this type get busier. It's just hard for me to pay $20 for a book that I will read in 2 days that I can get for free from the public library.
